4 Social Media Snafus Your Business Must Avoid

Your social media presence is one of the cornerstones of your online marketing strategy. It’s essential to prioritize these posts, because they provide you with valuable opportunities for public outreach that other platforms cannot match.

Like any tool, however, social media can so easily be employed in the wrong way, and wind up hurting your business. Below are four of the most common pitfalls that businesses should try to avoid when they use social media for their marketing campaigns.

1. Accidental posts

Your social media content managers should take care to keep their personal and professional accounts separate. If possible, try to create your company’s social media posts on devices that are used exclusively for work-related accounts.

A danger with Bring You Own Device (BYOD) environments is that your firm’s social media activities are at risk of accidentally getting mixed with personal posts. An employee might try to update his or her own account, and accidentally post the content to an official company feed.

Such mistakes can damage your brand reputation.

2. Credential leaks

One of the biggest headaches for a company is when your social media accounts become compromised by spam bots or hackers. This can lead to additional company vulnerabilities, especially if your social media account passwords are used for other company accounts.

Rotate your social media account passwords on a regular basis, and use unique passwords, so that any hacked accounts won’t compromise the security of your other operations.

3. Imposter accounts

At a certain point, your brand can gain enough clout that someone may try to impersonate your firm online. Keep a close eye out for imitator blogs or social media accounts.

These imposters might deliberately try to trick customers into believing they are an official company account. If you identify an imposter account, be sure to report it to Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms.

4. Improper voice

Companies who are just starting out with marketing on social media often make the mistake of using language that is too sales-oriented or formal. At the same time, you don’t want to be so informal that your customers click out.

You have to establish a fine balance when it comes to social media marketing. Make sure that the tone of your posts aligns with your company’s audience and mission.

Professional workflows, account security, and the right company voice can help you find success in social media marketing. Try to avoid common social media errors by keeping professional and personal accounts separate, managing passwords, watching out for imposters, and avoiding the wrong tone.